Last Kmart location in California closes

Kmart closed its last store in California this weekend after a 42-year run at a shopping center in Grass Valley.

The site at 111 W. McKnight Way, in the Nevada County town northeast of Sacramento, officially closed its doors on Sunday, according to Steve Mensinger, president of Mesa Management, which runs the shopping center where the store was located.

The 80,000-foot store had operated at the McKnight Crossing shopping center, formerly called the Grass Valley Shopping Center, since 1979, Mensinger said.

But over time, the store suffered a decline, he said. “Kmart was struggling for years with product, bankruptcies, inventory (and) staffing,” said Mensinger.

The Kmart Corp. has shuttered stores across the country since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2002 before merging with Sears, Roebuck & Co. in 2004. Last month the retailer closed its last store in Michigan, where it opened its first brick-andmortar location in 1962.

The chain will have only a handful of stores in the continental U.S. by the end of the year, CNN reported.

Kmart officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Grass Valley, a Target store will take Kmart’s place next year, said Mensinger. The expected opening date was unclear. Representatives with Target did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mensinger said that given the store’s problems, the Grass Valley community was “happy” about the change,

but some local shoppers on Sunday said they were sorry to see the retailer go.

“I’m 58 years old, and this is the place where we always went,” Teresa Dubrul told KCRA 3 on Sunday. The store reportedly had posters that read “Everything must go” and “90 percent off.”

Many residents said the Kmart was the only store where they could shop without having to leave the city, the station reported.

Another Northern California Kmart, in South Lake Tahoe, reportedly closed in August this year, according to the Tahoe Daily Tribune.